Friday, May 8, 2015

9th
May is an important day for Russia – it is Victory Day marking capitulation
of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the
part of the Second World War, following the signing of the surrender document in
May 1945. The
Soviet government announced the victory early on 9th May after the signing ceremony in Berlin. In the former Soviet Union this festival was
celebrated to commemorate the Red Army's victory over the Nazi forces. In communist East Germany, 8th May was officially known and celebrated as
"Liberation Day" and was a public holiday between 1950 and 1966, and
again on the 40th anniversary
in 1985.

Tomorrow,
it is being planned to be celebrated big – ‘the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade’
to take place in Red Square in Moscow, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the capitulation. The annual parade marks the Allied victory in
the Second World War at the Eastern Front, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir
Putin will also deliver his twelfth holiday address to the nation on this day,
right after the parade inspection to be presided by Minister of Defense General
of the Army Sergey Shoigu. Being a landmark jubilee parade honouring the 70th
anniversary, this year's parade is expected to be one of the biggest and
largest to be held in Russian history. Alongside Presidents of Serbia, Vietnam,
China, North Korea, Egypt, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is also expected
to attend. In all, 27 international
leaders are expected to be in attendance this year, including heads of UNESCO
and the Council of Europe.

Russia’s
legendary firearms producer Kalashnikov will for the first time introduce the
modernized AK-74M at the parade. Kalashnikov claims that the famous assault
rifle will now be 50 percent more accurate. The new assault rifles will be
equipped with modern optoelectronic and laser aiming devices, gun flashlights
for low visibility and low noise shooting equipment, the Kalashnikov Concern
said Tuesday. The rifle will also include a 40-mm grenade launcher and a
bayonet. The upgraded AK-74M will be 50
percent more accurate at a distance of up to 300 meters at any time of day and
in various weather conditions, the company added.

...... the interesting news is that Vadimir Putin has spent £5m on making sure it doesn't rain during V-Day Parade.
Jets are to spike clouds with
chemical cocktail though it would mean that villages 40 miles away will get deluged). This act would guarantee sunshine during the annual parade.

MailOnline reports
that Vladimir Putin is preparing to play God and spike clouds with a chemical
cocktail to prevent it raining on his vast Red Square military parade on
Saturday. Reports say the Kremlin is ready to splash out £5million to use
Soviet technology which should guarantee sunshine for the commemoration of the
70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe - and Putin's
15th year as Russia's head of state. Ahead of the parade, a fleet of Russian
air force planes are on standby from around 6am to fly from an airbase north of
Moscow to spray special reactant chemical agents over any thick clouds, causing
them to release their rainfall in downpours before reaching the capital.

Cloud
spiking or seeding involves spraying clouds with a cocktail of silver iodide,
liquid nitrogen and dry ice. The icy particles freeze water droplets so that
they continue growing in size and eventually fall out of the cloud as snow
which turns to rain before it reaches the ground. As a result central Moscow should be bathed
in sunshine, or at least dry, for the major commemoration of Victory Day - one
of the most hallowed in the Russian calendar. However,
hapless villages around 40 to 60 miles from the capital can expect to be
deluged.

Globally, it is now
considered a mainstream tool and it has become a tradition in China to ‘seed’
clouds before public holidays to induce rain, disperse pollution and ensure
clear blue skies. The 10 ageing Soviet-era Antonovs and Illuyshin planes are
being prepared to use spray cannons to blast any lurking dark clouds with a
cocktail of weather-changing chemicals to prevent a Red Square washout. A
record 400million roubles has been allocated this year to seed the clouds using
a system pioneered under Stalin. Military spokesman Colonel Vladimir Drik has
told previously how the aircraft fly from Chkalovsky air base before beginning
work at an altitude of 8,000 metres to 'correct' the adverse weather. 'For dispersion of clouds, the Air Force uses
specially refurbished An-26 and An-12 transport planes supplied with reagents,'
he explained.

At the end of the
Soviet era, a former KGB official suggested the system could be marketed to
Britain to prevent washouts at Wimbledon fortnight - and Test Match cricket. The
proposal never got off the ground, but the Russians regularly use the
cloud-spiking technique on big occasions. It was once used to ease torrential
rain at an open air Michael Jackson concert in Moscow. The system does not
always work: in 2012, the planes failed to clear the leaden skies for the
Victory Day parade. The Russians deny criticism that the operation is harmful
to the environment.

Despite
being wartime allies with the USSR against Hitler, neither Britain not the US
will be represented at head of government level.